Sterilizable and non-breakable micro slide container



Aug. 29, 1961 c. R. STEWART 2,998,127

STERILIZABLE AND NON-BREAKABLE MICRO SLIDE CONTAINER Filed March 14, 1960 g i; i 2 '5 1/ INVENTOR. 64; w/v R. .fnewmer nited tates This invention pertains to a simple, non-breakable, gasketless, sterilizable container for micro slides bearing sections, tissues, smears and similar specimens for laboratory examination. The invention is directed toward a non-breakable, shippable container for micro slides which have to be kept sterile and often have to be shipped long distances, the fluid-tight characteristics of the container and its ability to preclude breakage of the slides being partly due to the construction of arrangement of elements and partly to the physical characteristics of the material used in making the container.

Diagnosis of diseases and various ailments requires, in most instances, a careful examination of blood cells, tissues and various other specimens by experts in the particular line or form of disease or infection which the original examining physician suspects. Clinical diagnosis by laboratory methods is very extensively employed. In many instances a physician may obtain such specimens and sections by biopsy, smears, etc., and then has to send or transmit the micro slides upon which such specimens or sections have been mounted to a laboratory or to a clinic wherein expert diagnosis and examination can be made. The equipment in outlying or smaller communities, or in field hospitals, for example, is rather limited and the clinical diagnosis must be made at other locations where equipment is available. Heretofore, micro slides for such laboratory diagnosis and examination have been shipped in glass containers, one slide being contained in each container. These glass containers can be sterilized but they are fragile nad are often broken in transit. The life of a patient may depend upon rapid examination of a micro slide by an expert and the loss of such slide may result in the death of the patient. It has not been possible to send more than one slide in a container of the character used heretofore. In many instances, moreover, it is necessary that the entire slide be immersed in a preserving liquid, such as alcohol, in order to maintain the specimen in proper condition during the period of time that it is in transit.

The present invention is directed to a two-piece, nonbreakable, sterilizable container which is fluid-tight without the use of gaskets or other cumbersome devices. Moreover, the container is lightweight and may provide a receptacle for two, four or six slides if desired. By proper and careful design, it has been found that the physical characteristics of the dense, polyethylene polymers of large molecular weight may be utilized to advantage and permit the formation of a non-breakable, gasketless, liquid-resistant, sterilizable container. A tight seal capable of withstanding organic solvents such as alcohols may be obtained without the use of gaskets, rubber or other devices. The container is somewhat resilient and does not shatter or break.

Generally stated, the device of the present invention consists of a body portion which is substantially cylindrical in outer form and a removable closure. The closure and the container are provided with integral, molded, interlocking threads. Both the closure and container are provided with stop shoulders and stop walls which engage and firmly contact one another when the threads are in engagement so as to form a tight seal. The body portion of the container has an internal wall surface which is non-cylindrical, however. Instead, the interior of the body portion is provided with a pair of opposing planar surfaces in parallel planes, each of such surfaces having fit ice

longitudinally extending, parallel, spaced ribs extending inwardly, the ribs being spaced from each other so as to slidably receive a micro slide therebetween. When the closure and body portion are in tight, threaded engagement with one another the micro slides held by the ribs of the body portion are prevented from rattling or moving. The ends of the slides, however, are readily available and since only the end portion of a slide is presented, it can be placed into or removed from the container of this invention without contamination of the central portion of the slide which normally carries the tissue or other specimen.

It is an object of the present invention, therefore, to disclose and provide an inexpensive, non-breakable, gasketless, solvent-resistant and sterilizable container for micro slides.

A further object of the invention is to disclose and provide an arrangement of elements and parts, as well as of materials employed, whereby a non-breakable, solventresistant, sterilizable, light-weight and readily shipped container for micro slides may be made available.

These and other objects of the invention will become apparent from the following description. In order to facilitate understanding, reference will be had to the appended drawings, in which FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a body portion and closure therefor;

FIG. 2 is an end view of the body portion of the device;

FIG. 3 is an axial section taken through the body portion of the device.

As previously indicated, many of the desirable characterlstics of the container have been made possible by the careful adaptation of materials employed as well as the construction utilized. It has been found, for example, that the desirable characteristics may be attained to best advantage by making the closure and body portion from a dense, polyethylene polymer composition. Moreover, it has been found that the material from which the device is made should have a Shore D hardness of between 60 and 75. This insures the provision of the material which not only has extremely high resistance to shock and high strength but also concurrently has a resiliency and the ability to form a tight seal when two surfaces are brought into pressure contact. Other resinous or organic plastics may also be employed and certain of the polyurethane compositions may be used but the dense polyethylene polymer referred to appears to be eminently suited for the purposes of this invention. At all events, irrespective of the composition employed, it has been found that a material which has a Shore D hardness within the range stated (after curing) provides a fluid-tight seal when the device is constructed in the manner hereinafter described.

As shown in FIG. 1, the device itself comprises a body portion ltl and a closure 30. Both the body portion and closure are preferably of uniform and equal outer diameter.

The body portion 1 0 has a cylindrical wall and an in tegral bottom wall indicated at 1.1. The cylindrical wall 12 is provided with an open top which is defined by the stop wall surface 13, lying in a plane transverse to the axis of the cylindrical body portion. The inner surface of the body portion adjacent the open top is provided with an integral, inwardly extending screw thread indicated at 14. Although various types of screw threads may be employed, it has been found that an acme-type of thread is preferred. An interrupted type of thread may also be used but then the container is not well suited for the retention of organic fluids, such as alcohols and the like, which are often employed as a medium in which the micro slides are preserved and shipped.

Ai thw h the c in r a l o the bod p n is cylindrical adjacent the open top, the inner surface of the body portion between the thread 14 and the botton 11 is non-cylindrical. This lower, inner surface is provided with two, opposed, planar surfaces such as 15 and 16 extending in planes parallel to the axis of the body portion and to each other. Each of these planar surfaces is provided with a plurality of parallel, longitndinally extending, spaced ribs 17, 17' and the like, extending inwardly towards the ribs of the other planar surface, these ribs being spaced from each other a distance suflicient so as to slidably receive a micro slide therebetween.

It will be noticed (see FIG. 3) that the ribs 17 extend from the bottom 11 to a plane immediately beneath the inwardly extending threads 14. In such plane, indicated at 20, it is desirable that the curved areas of the inner wall of the container be of slightly smaller diameter than the smallest diameter of the threads 14. Differently stated, the device includes a small, upwardly facing, circumferential shoulder at the plane Ztl, the internal diameter of the shoulder being smaller than the diameter of a cylinder embraced by the threads 14.

Moreover, it may also be noted that the length of the ribs or the distance from the bottom 11 to the plane 20 should be correlated to the length of the micro slides, so that when a micro slide is in position between adjacent ribs within the container, its end will be within a few thousandths of the plane 20.

The closure 30 has an upper cylindrical portion which is virtually equal in diameter to the outer diameter of the body portion and a lower portion indicated at 31 provided with integral, outwardly extending threads 32 adapted to engage the threads 14 of the body portion 10. An inwardly extending, annular, transverse stop shoulder 33 is provided between the upper and lower portions of the closure member, this transverse stop shoulder being adapted to firmly contact and form a tight seal with the stop wall surface '13 of the body portion 10 when the closure is threadedly connected to the body portion.

The closure member 30 may be hollow, as indicated, or it may be solid, but at all events it should include an end face 34 arranged to come into close proximity to the ends of the ribs 17, etc., and to the ends of the micro slides held therebetween when the stop shoulder and ,stop wall surface 33 and 13 are in firm contact.

From the description given hereinabove, it will be recognized that micro slides may be readily placed into the container. Each micro slide may be picked up by its end portion and readily inserted and longitudinally moved into the spaces between opposing grooves. This insures handling of the micro slides by their end portions and not by any of the intermediate areas where a tissue or other specimen may be mounted. Contamination or de struction of the specimen is thus avoided. The ribs protect the longitudinal edges of the slide. The spacing between the ribs 17, 17' and the like may be such as to accommodate the relatively thin, single layer slides, or they may be spaced suificiently so as to slidably receive the double, or mounted type of slides. When the speci- -mens so require, the entire container may be filled with an alcohol or other preserving liquid. After the container has been suitably filled, the closure 30 is threadedly engaged with the body portion and manually tightened, the length of the portion 31 of the closure being such that when the stop shoulder 33 and the stop wall surface 13 are in firm contact and engagement, the end face 34 will be in close proximity or rest upon the ends of the ribs 17 or against the relatively small or narrow annular shoulder 20, thereby providing a secondary seal in that zone. For shipment, a piece of pressure adhesive may be applied around the joint thus formed between the closure member and the body portion and a suitable label applied to the outer surface of the body portion.

In view of the resiliency of the polyethylene polymer compositions having a Shore D hardness of between 60 and 75, the container appears to absorb a tremendous amount of shock and cannot be broken by being dropped or knocked about. Moreover, the device is absolutely fluid-tight and can withstand as much as lbs. air pressure internally without leakage. Moreover, the containers may be sterilized and autoclaved at temperatures up to 240 F. without any deleterious eflect.

All changes coming within the scope of the appended claims are embraced thereby.

I claim:

1. A two-piece, non-breakable, gasketless, liquid-resistant, sterilizable container for micro slides bearing sections, tissues, smears and similar specimens for laboratory examination, comprising: a body portion of uniform outer diameter and having a cylindrical wall, an integral closed bottom and an open top defined by a stop wall surface in a plane transverse to the axis of the cylindrical wall, the inner surface of the body portion adjacent the open top being provided with an integral, inwardly extending thread, the inner surface of the body portion between said thread and closed bottom being non-cylindrical and including opposed planar surfaces in planes parallel to the axis of the body portion and to each other, each of said surfaces having parallel, spaced ribs extending inwardly toward the ribs of the other surface, said ribs being spaced from each other to slidably receive a micro slide therebetween; and a closure having an upper cylindrical portion virtually equal in diameter to the outer diameter of the body portion and a lower portion of reduced diameter provided with integral, outwardly extending threads adapted to inferengage the threads of the body portion; and an inwardly extending, annular, transverse stop shoulder between said upper and lower portions of the closure adapted to firmly contact and form a seal with the stop wall surface of the body portion when said closure is threadedly connected to the body portion, said body portion and closure being composed of a dense, polyethylene polymer composition and having a Shore D hardness of between 60 and 75.

2. A two-piece, non-breakable, gasketless, liquid-resistant, sterilizable container for micro slides bearing sections, tissues, smears and similar specimens for laboratory examination, comprising: a body portion of uniform outer diameter and having a cylindrical wall, an integral closed bottom and an open top defined by a stop wall surface in a plane transverse to the axis of the cylindrical wall, the inner surface of the body portion adjacent the open top being provided with an integral, inwardly extending thread, the inner surface of the body portion between said thread and closed bottom being non-cylindrical and including opposed planar surfaces in planes parallel to the axis of the body portion and to each other, each of said surfaces having parallel, spaced ribs extending inwardly toward the ribs of the other surface, said ribs being spaced from each other to slidably receive a micro slide therebetween; a closure having an upper, cylindrical portion virtually equal in diameter to the outer diameter of the body portion and a lower portion of reduced diameter provided with integral, outwardly extending threads adapted to interengage the threads of the body portion; and an inwardly extending annular, transverse stop shoulder between said upper and lower portions of the closure adapted to firmly contact and form a seal with the stop wall surface of the body portion when said closure is threadedly connected to the body portion, said body portion and closure being composed of a dense, polyethylene polymer composition and having a Shore D hardness of between 60 and 75, the lower portion of said closure including an end face arranged to come into close proximity to the ends of ribs and micro slides therebetween when said stop shoulder and stop wall surface are in contact.

3. A two-piece, non-breakable,

gasketless, liquidresistant, sterilizable container for micro slides bearing sections, tissues, smears and similar specimens for laboratory examination, comprising: a hollow body portion having a cylindrical, outer wall, a bottom and an open top, integrally formed threads in said Wall adjacent said open top, a pair of stop walls in said wall, said stop walls facing away from said bottom and each lying in a substantially transverse but longitudinally displaced plane from the other, one of said stop walls extending in a radial direction opposed to the other, the inner surface of said hollow body being non-cylindrical and including opposed planar surfaces in planes parallel to the axis of the body portion and to each other, each of said surfaces having parallel, spaced ribs extending inwardly toward the ribs of the other surface, said ribs being spaced from each other to slid-ably receive a micro slide therebetween; and a closure provided with integrally formed threads adapted to engage the threads of said body portion and a pair of stop shoulders, each lying in a substantially transverse plane longitudinally spaced from the other, one of said shoulders extending in a radial direction opposed to the radial direction of the other, said stop walls and shoulders being adapted to contact and form longitudinally spaced seals when the closure is applied to the body, said body portion and closure being composed of a dense polyethylene polymer composition and having a Shore D hardness of between 60 and 75, one of the stop shoulders of the closure being adapted to restrain movement of micro slides within the container when said closure is in threaded and sealed engagement with the body portion.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 474,940 Barnes May 17, 1892 2,774,472 B-adalich Dec. 18, 1956 2,816,883 Larchar et al Dec. 17, 1957 2,822,357 Brebner Feb. 4, 1958 

